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A new directive from Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior requires banks to freeze the accounts of customers if they do not register their fingerprint ID with the government.
Last week, the final deadline passed for Kuwaiti citizens to register their fingerprint ID with the Ministry of Interior, before a mass lockout from bank accounts and payment cards is set to take place.
The ministry said its General Department of Criminal Evidences had extended the opening hours of its biometric ID centres in malls until midnight September 30 to accommodate last-minute registrations.
After this date, the centres in malls will be closed, and those wishing to register their fingerprint ID must go directly to a General Department of Criminal Evidences location.
By mid-October, Visa, Mastercard and Knet bank cards of non-compliant individuals will be deactivated. By November 1, they will no longer be able to withdraw funds in person at bank branches.
The ministry said the fingerprint ID directive is necessary to ensure the security of accounts and to protect bank customers from identity theft and other forms of fraud.
In addition to bank account and payment card freezes, failure to register a fingerprint ID will also result in suspension of Civil ID cards and government services.
Kuwait’s Civil ID card, which can be obtained by Kuwaiti citizens and residents, can be used as a travel document when visiting the five other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): Bahrain; Oman; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; and the UAE.
Overseas Kuwaitis spared (for now)
The directive also applies to Kuwaiti citizens who are currently overseas, although some of these citizens are exempted from the regulation until they return to Kuwait.
In September, the Ministry of Interior issued a statement confirming that Kuwaiti students on scholarships overseas, Kuwaitis receiving medical treatment overseas and Kuwaiti diplomats are temporarily exempt.
However, upon their return to Kuwait, these citizens must register their fingerprint ID at the airport or at a centre of the General Department of Criminal Evidences.
Kuwaiti citizens who are studying abroad but who do not have a scholarship are not automatically exempt from the directive.
Instead, these citizens must submit proof of their location and study plans to a Kuwaiti embassy, and only once their documentation is approved will they be temporarily exempt from the requirements.
At the end of last month, around 100,000 of Kuwait’s 900,000 citizens had not yet registered their fingerprint ID, according to figures provided to local media by Lieutenant Colonel Hamad Jassim Al-Shammari.
Foreign nationals not exempt
Another group that is not exempt from the directive is overseas nationals who are resident in Kuwait.
This group, which currently makes up about two–thirds of Kuwait’s population, has secured a deadline extension until December 31, 2024.
However, they still face the same bank and payment restrictions if they do not comply with the directive.
At the end of last month, according to Al-Shammari, 790,000 out of a total of 2.6m foreign nationals had not registered their fingerprint ID with the Ministry of Interior.
